It was a relief last year to have the lovely Renee Fleming deliver a wonderfully clean rendition (followed by Joyce Di Donato in the World Series), but the sports world generally seems to prefer non-operatic voices, so I was pretty sure this year we'd be back to the free-flowing version with a hundred extra notes. Happily, I was wrong - Idina Menzel delivered a fairly simple version, and if she had a few slight key changes; well, trying to belt this out, acapella, in the middle of a huge stadium does present a few challenges. I would have liked to hear the version she did for July 4th last year again, since it is a whole lot easier for a singer to hang onto their pitch in this situation when they are backed up by an orchestra:

So Sunday was the Superbowl - day of chips, dip and the inevitable critiquing of the National Anthem from all over the globe. People weighed in on this year's singer with great delight, offering critiques, criticism and encouragement. I would wager that no other vocal performance is so heavily critiqued. As a professional singer, I can say that I would not want the dubious honor of singing our National Anthem at the Super Bowl.

I read a pretty funny article last night that traced the development of this performance from Whitney Houston's historical rendition, thru Maria Carey's whistle tones and onto Christina Aguilera forgetting the words (and completely obscuring the melody). It's an amusing read (bit of strong language), especially for anyone who has ever spent a moment wondering what in the world happened to the melody of this beloved tune. I really think Eric Whitacre summed it up the best with this little graphic that he shared for last year's big game:

So what is it with our love of vocal frills anyway? Why do people start to cheer the moment a singer begins to "play" with the melody? This is not just a phenomenon of popular music. The type of operatic singing that seems most likely to amaze is that of the coloratura, whose high notes put Mariah's to absolute shame and whose runs make the rest of us just sigh. Consider the following:

If you read music (and if you're familiar with this aria), you quickly realize that she's singing a whole LOT of notes that aren't written down. This is the bread and butter of coloraturas, and - when done well - are wonderful examples of truly skilled singing. Except, sometimes - a lot of times - the singer can get so carried away with showing off, that they forget that there was ever a melody. It's not just our National Anthem that gets mistreated!

So why the ornamentation anyway? What are those little trills, frills and decoration all about? I mean, we've been singing melismatic music for a really long time:

What I teach my students is pretty simple: those "frills" are moments when the music just can't contain your emotion. It's like your heart burst out of the melody for a second and more notes just spilled out. You don't need to go into exhaustive discussions about performance practice or discuss the merits of hip-hop versus gospel, or Mariah versus Christina. You just talk about being honest in your singing and not showing off....and maybe the importance of actually letting an audience hear the melody before you start "playing" with it! When singing becomes an outlet for your vanity, you've forgotten the reason we sing, which is to say something. Something other than "Listen at me, I'm so awesome."

You know what's awesome? It's the woman who started this (current) crazy trend of control frills in our National Anthem. Go back and listen to her sing her love of her country. Listen to its simplicity and passion. And if you're like me, cry a little (or a lot).